The diploma thesis is divided in two main parts. In the first part the thesis describes the concept of venture capital, it provides venture capital concept definition and clarifies possibilities of utilisation of venture capital. The work shows creating funds, gives definition of a founder, funds rules and their priorities, ways of checking investments and the process of the final phase, i.e. evaluation. Kind of venture capital investment, investment process length, quantity of provided tools and investment risk are very important points in this dissertation, too. The second part of the thesis tries to find out more on venture capital funds, which are regular members of CVCA, i.e. Argus Capital Group Limited, Genesis Capital, KBC Private Equity, Enterprise Investors, Advent International and 3TS Capital Partners.

O objetivo central do presente trabalho é calcular os índices de desempenho dos fundos de ações no mercado brasileiro e determinar qual a probabilidade de que um fundo, que vinha apresentando bom desempenho em relação a seus pares, consiga manter esta posição no período seguinte. Como objetivos específicos buscou-se investigar quais índices de desempenho estão mais associados à expectativa de boa performance, se os gestores de fundos de ações no Brasil apresentam habilidade de se antecipar aos movimentos de alta e baixa na Bolsa de Valores e se estes gestores apresentam habilidades para selecionar as ações. A principal contribuição do trabalho é desenvolver um modelo para análise de fundos de investimento em ações no mercado brasileiro que possa ser utilizado pelos investidores, para selecionar os melhores fundos para aplicação de seus recursos. Buscou-se analisar quais métricas de desempenho são melhores para discriminar os fundos com bom desempenho, através da técnica estatística de regressão logística binária, cuja resposta permita estabelecer a probabilidade de ocorrência de fundos com desempenho superior e a importância das variáveis para essa ocorrência. A abordagem é inovadora. A matriz de classificação do modelo revelou um índice de acertos de 81% e as variáveis com significância estatística que entraram na equação, pela ordem de importância, foram: taxa de administração, índice de Treynor, índice de Sharpe generalizado, índice de Modigliani e taxa de performance. Os resultados da mensuração da habilidade de se antecipar ao mercado indicaram que 67,6% dos gestores apresentaram esta característica. A análise da habilidade dos gestores de fundos de ações brasileiros para selecionar as ações revelou que apenas 15% conseguiram obter seletividade positiva. Este resultado está em linha com os de outras pesquisas internacionais, tais como: Fama (1972), Sharpe (1992), Bollen e Busse (2005) e Fama e French (2009). / The main objective of this work is to calculate the performance measurements of equity funds in the market and determine the probability that a fund, which had shown good performance in relation to their peers, can maintain this position in the next period. The specific objectives sought to investigate what levels of performance are more closely associated with the expectations of good performance, if managers of equity funds in Brazil have timing abilities and if these managers have skills to select stocks. The main contribution of this work is to develop a model for the analysis of investment funds in stocks in the Brazilian market, which can be used by investors to select the best funds to invest their resources. Was analyzed what performance metrics are better to discriminate funds with good performance through the statistical technique of binary logistic regression, whose response would establish the likelihood of funds with superior performance and the importance of the variables for this occurrence. The approach is innovative. The classification matrix of the model revealed a hit rate of 81% and statistically significant variables that entered into the equation, in order of importance were: management fee, Treynor ratio, generalized Sharpe ratio, Modigliani ratio and performance fee. The results of measuring timing abilities indicated that 67.6% of managers had this skill. To analyze whether the Brazilian managers of equity funds had skills to select stocks revealed that only 15% of managers were able to obtain positive selectivity. This result is in line with results from other international studies, such as Fama (1972), Sharpe (1992), Bollen and Busse (2005) and Fama and French (2009).

This research aims to identify the determinants of the ex-ante risk premium required by Italian private equity funds (PEFs) when valuing privately-held target companies. In theory, perceived risk is a key driver of expected returns and anticipated value, but: ¿Although PE (private equity) has experienced rapid growth, the risk and return profile of this asset class is not well understood.¿ (Jegadeesh et al., 2009). Some papers have attempted to assess the ex post returns pioneered by Lerner & Gompers (1997). Yet such studies reveal both contradictory conclusions and hitherto inexplicable phenomena: what some authors call the ¿private equity premium puzzle¿ (Moskowitz & Jorgensen, 2000). Such contradictory conclusions include a wide spread of abnormal realized returns ranging from -6% (Phalippou & Gottschalg, 2009) to +32% (Cochrane, 2005). In this research, the perceived risk and expected return drivers refer not to the ex-post realized return that PEF investors actually achieve, but to the required return the PEF hopes to gain from the target investment. At this stage, two important indicators adopted in PEF parlance have to be differentiated: (i) the Expected IRR (E.IRR) and (ii) the Threshold IRR (T.IRR). The first is the IRR as an output of a business plan, and the second assesses the return expected by PEFs according to the risk perceived in the business plan. Put simply, these are respectively, the anticipated return and the (risk-adjusted) required return. The study of the T.IRR is one of the main contributions of this thesis since it has never been studied before by academia as an indicator of the ex-ante perceived risk of a PEF target company. This is partly due to two important reasons. First, most previous papers examine ex-post performance, and only a few (e.g. Manigart et al., 2002), try to assess return expectations and risk perceptions using an ex-ante perspective. Second, most of the prior studies are quantitative and try to measure statistical effects captured by the ex-post IRR. By studying 26 deals (in 13 Italian PEFs) in detail (qualitatively and quantitatively), this research project has been able to observe how PEFs assess risk and estimate the T.IRR. The research project reveals that PEFs apply neither rational-based models nor explicit formulae to assess risk exante. By observing a set of phenomena unique to the PEF sector (fees effect, investment speed effect, persistence effect, money-chasing deal phenomenon, illiquidity effect, etc) whose existence has been suggested by many recent papers, this thesis has been able to propose an adjusted version of the three-factor model of Fama and French (1993, 1995) to assess risk. The application of a quasi-rational-based asset pricing model to guide PEFs assessments is also an important contribution of this thesis. In fact, Franzoni, Nowak and Phalippou (2010), claim to be the first to calculate the PEFs¿ cost of capital by applying asset pricing models. However, their approaches are not only based on the observations of realized returns, but also consider only one additional factor to the standard Fama & French three-factor model (1993), the liquidity factor. In contrast, the results and the model proposed by this thesis are based on qualitative and quantitative ex-ante information and include not only the classical factors of that model, but also some other factors intended to explain some of the phenomena listed above which might also drive the risk premium in private equity funds. Based, therefore, on explaining the behavior of PEFs, the research develops a framework that can be applied by Italian PEFs and perhaps other PEFs in a more rational manner than their past behavior suggests.

The financial performance of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) strategies is heavily debated in the modern age. Due to lack of evidence on Swedish SRI performance, Swedish investors are uncertain about placing their financial assets in these strategies as they are afraid expected to sacrifice their financial return for doing good. The purpose of this study is to examine and evaluate the financial and risk-adjusted performance of Swedish registered SRI mutual equity funds compared to conventional mutual equity funds during 2010-2020. The study’s dataset consists of a total of 236 mutual equity funds, with a sample of 133 SRI funds and 103 conventional funds. Financial performance measures used in this study are alpha, estimated through the Carhart four-factor model, and the Sharpe Ratio. The analysis between SRI mutual equity funds and conventional mutual equity funds indicated an insignificant difference in both financial and risk-adjusted performance. Based on the evidence provided, the study concludes that Swedish investors who put ethical, environmental and social values into their investment decision making process do not have to sacrifice their expected financial return, nor will their investment entail a higher degree of risk.

För att investerare ska placera kapital mot hållbara investeringar krävs insikt om det finns en premie som valet av hållbara aktiefonder innebär eller om dessa motsvarar eller till och med överavkastar mot konventionella fonder. I denna uppsats undersöker vi hur den riskjusterade avkastningen, mätt som Jensens alpha, ser ut för hållbara och konventionella fonder. Studien undersökte 51 aktiefonder med hemvist i Sverige för åren 2017-2021 där datan samlades in från Avanza och hållbarhetsbetyg från Morningstar användes för klassificering av konventionella respektive hållbara fonder. Resultaten pekar på att hållbara aktiefonder har en riskjusterad avkastning som är 0,2 procentenheter högre än konventionella aktiefonder över hela tidsramen. Studien undersökte även förhållandet mellan riskjusterad avkastning och förvaltningsavgiften och fann ett marginellt positivt samband utifrån en regressionsanalys. Studien bidrar till forskningsområdet genom att närmare undersöka ett individuellt land till skillnad från tidigare studier och på senare årtal vilket ger en mer nutida förståelse för hållbara och konventionella aktiefonder på den svenska fondmarknaden. / For investors looking at placing their capital in sustainable equity funds, there is a need for knowledge as to how sustainable funds compare to their conventional peers. Do they demand a premium, have the same returns or even outperform? In this paper we look at the risk adjusted return, Jensen's alpha, on the Swedish fund market between the year 2017-2021 and how sustainable funds compare to conventional ones. The results indicate that sustainable funds outperform conventional funds with 0,2 percentage points over the entire time frame. The study also examined the relationship between fund fees and risk adjusted returns and found a marginal positive relationship from a regression analysis. The study contributes to the scientific field by closer examining a single country for a later time frame, giving a more contemporary understanding of sustainable and conventional funds on the Swedish fund market.

Employment, economic growth and self-reliance are the appetites of every country. Small enterprise development is seen as an effective solution towards this goal depending on the availability of resources. Private equity finance is one of the key resources to enterprise development in a country. International case studies have shown that private equity finance can lead to enterprise development in a country. The aim of the study is to determine the contribution of private equity finance to enterprise development in South Africa. In order to get views from other role players in the private equity finance market, questionnaires were distributed to 200 private equity finance players and the response rate was 39%. The sample size comprised 61.5% males and 38.5% females. The majority of the participants were in the age group 25–34 and constituted 53% of the respondents, whilst those aged 35–49 years constituted 35.9%. A smaller number of respondents were in the age group 18–24 and 50 and above, which both comprised 11.5% as an aggregate. The results revealed that there is a positive correlation between enterprise development and private equity capital with 83% of the respondents agreeing and strongly agreeing that the business skills and expertise brought by private equity investors increase business performance. Of the respondents, 74.4% strongly agree and agree with the notion that most Small and Medium Enterprises do need the intervention of private equity investors. It is recommended that the government, through relevant legislation, needs to promote and encourage private equity investment. Some form of private equity investment such as angel investment needs to be formalized, as is available in other countries such as the United States of America and some countries in Europe. / MBA. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2010.

Depuis le milieu des années 90, les indices et les fonds d‘investissement islamiques ont fait l‘objet de plusieurs études académiques. Cependant, les résultats divergent quant à leur surperformance ou leur sous-Performance. L‘objectif de notre thèse est d‘étudier les enjeux et la performance de cette catégorie d‘indices et de fonds. En ce qui concerne les indices, notre étude porte sur un échantillon de 57 couples d‘indices islamiques et de leurs benchmarks conventionnels. Nous étudions d‘abord les similitudes et les différences entre les deux catégories d‘indices. Puis, nous réalisons une revue de littérature classique accompagnée d‘une méta-Analyse. Ensuite, nous analysons l‘efficience et le potentiel de diversification de ces indices. Après, nous comparons les indices en termes de rentabilité, de risque et de performance. Nous utilisons également plusieurs mesures de performance afin de classer les indices islamiques. Enfin, nous étudions la persistance de la performance en ayant recours au modèle à quatre facteurs. Nos résultats montrent que malgré leur manque de diversification, les indices boursiers islamiques ont, en moyenne, le même degré d‘inefficience et le même niveau de performance que leurs homologues conventionnels. Quant aux fonds d‘investissement islamiques, nous étudions un échantillon de 111 fonds equity sur la période allant d‘avril 2005 à mars 2011. Nous utilisons plusieurs mesures de performance et des tests non paramétriques de la persistance entre trois sous-Périodes équivalentes. Nous trouvons une hétérogénéité en matière de performance de ces fonds et une absence de persistance pendant et après la dernière crise financière. / Since the mid-Nineties, Islamic mutual funds and indices have received a significant level of academic scrutiny. However, the debate over their under-Performance or over-Performance is not over yet. The prime objective of our study is to explore the stakes, the performance and the persistence in performance of this category of indices and funds. As for indices, the study used a sample of 57 Islamic indices and their conventional benchmarks. It is carried out through a) studying the similarities and differences between Islamic and conventional indices; b) surveying the current literature by performing both narrative and meta-Analytical review of the literature, c) studying the efficiency and their potential for diversification; d) comparing the return, the risk and the performance of Islamic indices with their conventional counterparts, e) ranking Islamic indices using various performance measures; and f) studying the persistence using the four-Factor pricing model. Despite their lack of diversification, the study finds that Islamic indices have, in average, the same level of inefficiency and performance as their conventional counterparts. As for funds, the study used a sample of 111 Islamic equity funds over the period April 2005 to March 2011 and carried out through applying different performance measures and non-Parametric tests of performance persistence over three equal sub-Periods. The study finds much heterogeneity in Islamic funds‘ performance and a little evidence that supports non-Persistence in performance of Islamic mutual funds during and after the last financial crisis.

The interest for sustainable funds have increased recently. ESG has become a part of companies everyday life and SRI a part of the investment strategies used by equity funds. In lack of research in the field of mutual equity funds, we choose to investigate how investment strategies in “social responsible investment” (SRI) affect the risk-adjusted return. The study investigated 51 equity funds between 2014 and 2019 that had been reporting their sustainability strategies in the so called “hållbarhetsprofilen”. From this information portfolios were constructed based on the funds strategic work in comparison to conventional funds counterparts. Carhart fourfactor model were used to calculate the risk-adjusted return, the sharpe ratio to determine return in relation to the another measure of risk and the strandarddevation to calculate the total risk in each portfolio. The study concluded that all swedish equity funds worked with combinations of several SRI strategies to implement sustainable investment. In line with previous research our results show that funds managed with a strategy of low rate exclusion show a higher risk-adjusted return compared to strategys with higher exclusion rates. The conclusion though, after statistical testing was that the results could not be proven significant between the two groups of SRI-funds, meaning that we could not prove any difference in risk-adjusted returns between the groups. Further the results showed that the total risk-exposure between SRI and conventional equity funds, due to reduced diversification was not higher in SRI funds in comparison with their conventional peers. Nor did we find any evidence for ESG-integration to dampen total risk during the time for investigation. / Intresset för hållbara fonder har ökat på senare tid. ESG har blivit en del av bolagens vardag och SRI en del av förvaltarnas strategier. Då det saknas forskning inom området på aktiefonder har vi valt att undersöka hur investeringsstrategier inom “Socially Responsible Investment” (SRI) påverkar den riskjusterade avkastningen. Studien undersökte 51 stycken aktiefonder mellan 2014 och 2019 som hade rapporterat sina hållbarhetsstrategier via den så kallade hållbarhetsprofilen. Från denna information skapades portföljer beroende på fondernas strategiska arbete som sedan jämfördes med konventionella fonder som motsvarigheter. Carhart fyrfaktormodell användes för att beräkna den riskjusterade avkastningen, sharpekvoten för att utröna avkastning i förhållande till risken och standardavvikelsen för att beräkna den totala risken i portföljen. Slutsatserna av undersökningen blev att samtliga aktiefonder arbetar med kombinationer av flera hållbarhetsstrategier för att genomföra hållbara investeringar. I linje med tidigare forskning visade resultaten även att exkludering i låg grad uppvisar en högre riskjusterad avkastning jämfört med en högre exkluderingsgrad. Detta resultatet var dock efter statistiskt test inte signifikant, vilket i sin tur genererade slutsatsen att den riskjusterade avkastningen inte påverkades av i vilken grad fonden använde sig av negativ screening. Den totala risken påverkades varken av att SRI-fonderna i jämförelse med de konventionella fonderna haft sämre möjligheter till diversifiering eller att SRI-fondernas på grund av ESG-integrering kunnat minska risken.

本研究以2007年「凱雷私募股權基金入主大眾銀行」一案當作研究主軸，以個案方式來呈現私募股權基金入主案的整個事件過程。大眾銀行財務體質不佳，急需資金，最終在眾多的籌資方式中選擇透過私募現金增資發行新股及可轉換公司債，引進單一策略投資人，轉換後外資持股比率最高大幅攀升至30%以上。 以事件研究法衡量股東財富的短期績效，研究發現在宣告日當天，市場對凱雷集團入主大眾銀行的訊息給予正面的回應，而自宣告日前10天至宣告日後8天，有顯著的平均累積異常報酬率。本研究亦衡量股東財富的長期績效，研究結果顯示， BHAR的衡量方法顯示，買進持有至第28個月及第36個月達10%之顯著水準，私募股權基金入主後有部份顯著增加股東財富。 凱雷集團透過持有多數股權，成為大眾銀行的最大股東，並進駐董事會，拿下半數董監席次，成功取得經營控制權，引進專業投資人的資金挹注來打銷呆帳及國際級的專業經驗、併購投資建議、改善公司治理等方式來強化金融業者的營運體質，使大眾銀行的信用評等得以被調升，有助於增加未來的融資彈性。本研究發現凱雷集團以增設獨立董事、縮小董事會規模及提高股權集中度來改善公司治理，與過去文獻研究結果一致，不過大眾銀行在經營效率性指標並未獲得改善。最後，分析大眾銀行入主前後3年經營績效的變化，研究發現凱雷集團入主後，大眾銀行在資本適足性、資產品質和獲利性指標等經營績效指標都有獲得顯著的改善。 / In this study, using the case of “Carlyle Group took over the Ta Chong Bank in 2007” to understand how did private equity funds implement. Due to the poor financial structure, Ta Chong Bank eventually selected through private placements to issuance the new shares and convertible bonds in a number of financing ways. Ta Chong Bank decided to find a single strategic investor, so the highest rate of foreign investor ownership after conversion could significantly increase to about 30%. To measure the shareholder’s wealth, this paper divided the short-term and long-term to analysis. First part, the capital market gave a positive response for the announcement of Carlyle Group took over the Ta Chong Bank. There was a significant average cumulative abnormal return between the ex-announcement and 8 days after announcement. In the long-term, the method of BHAR shows that buy-and-hold to 28 months and 36 months could get abnormal returns at 10% significant level. It presents that this case could increase the shareholder’s wealth in some specific periods. In this case, we find that Carlyle Group became the largest shareholder of Ta Chong Bank through acquiring majority equity. Moreover, Carlyle Group obtained the half numbers of directors, and successfully won the right of operational control. Through the international investment skills and professional operating experience, Carlyle Group improves corporate governance and financial structure of Ta Chong Bank and let the credit rating raised. This study also finds that Carlyle Group sets up independent directors, reduces board size and increases the concentration of ownership to improve corporate governance. It consists with the previous literature. But the operating efficiency indicator doesn’t improve so far. Finally, this study measures the change of operating performance. We find that just the operating performance indicators of capital adequacy, asset quality and profitability have improvement significantly.

<p>This study seeks to evaluate the performance of unit trust managers based on their client affiliation classification. Worldwide, the number of investors investing in unit trusts is on the rise and increasingly they want to be able to evaluate the performance of the managers managing their funds so as to make better investment decisions. This increase in the asset size and number of unit trusts funds could be attributed but not limited to the low capital required for investment by small investors who before could not afford to invest in portfolios requiring large capital (Prather, Bertin, and Henker, 2004). In addition, the fund managers of these units are believed to have special skills such as market timing and stock selectivity which contribute to the performances they achieve. The evaluation of the performance of unit trust fund managers is a largely unexplored area in South Africa. As a result, the study focuses on South Africa fund managers and has as aim to evaluate the performance of two groups of fund managers (independent and dependent) who were classified based on their client affiliation structure. The client affiliation classification is as a result of the fund manager‟s clientele base. The dependent group are those who formed part of a group structure and offer other wealth management services for which their clients or investors in the unit trust services originate from within the group while the independent group are those whose clients are pulled together from diverse individuals or institutions and does not form part of a group or render other services other than fund management. Two fund types were selected namely / general equity funds and balanced funds. It has also examined the underlying skills the different groups of fund managers possess. The performance of unit trust has an effect on many parties who are related in one way or the other to the unit trust funds. The results of this study will inform individual investors, trustees and asset consultants in their decision making process of selecting a fund manager. The results of the study will be of value to the asset management industry in terms of assessing their structures and restructuring the investment service business to meet the expectations of their clients / the investors. It could also be used as a marketing tool. Publicly available historical data on the returns generated by fund managers for a five year period from&nbsp / 2005 to 2009 was obtained. Analyses were done using the independent sampled t-test and the Treynor Mazel model respectively for the different research questions posed. The results obtained indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the performances of independent fund managers with those of dependent fund managers. However, dependent fund managers of equity funds performed better than their counterparts the independent fund managers. In the case of balanced funds, the independent fund managers performed better than their dependent counterparts. On average, both fund&nbsp / manager types possessed selectivity skills for equity funds and none for balanced funds. However for both fund types, the dependent fund manager demonstrated more selectivity skills than their independent counterparts. The results for market timing skills demonstrated that on average, both fund managers did not possess market timing skills for balanced funds while possessing these skills for equity funds. The dependent&nbsp / fund managers demonstrated more market timing skills for balanced funds though negative when compared to that of their counterparts. On the other hand, the equity fund independent fund&nbsp / managers demonstrated more market timing skills than the dependent fund managers.</p>